About 40 Ventura County and Oxnard firefighters attacked the blaze. Emergency vehicles clogged the residential enclave tucked between Rose and Vineyard avenues on the north side of Highway 101. A California Highway Patrol officer closed the street to traffic.

Monday's blistering heat meant extra water bottles, oxygen tanks and other precautions for firefighters, said Capt. Stan Ziegler, of the Ventura County Fire Department.

No injuries to residents or firefighters were reported, Ziegler said. The cause was still under investigation Monday and might not be determined for some time, he said. The Red Cross was called to assist displaced residents.

Shortly after noon, firefighters on the roof of the home attacked one corner with an ax, chainsaw and other tools. The main fire had been extinguished. Still, flames from a hot spot licked over roof tiles before a firefighter on the ground drenched the area with water.

Next-door-neighbor Danielle Googins said her husband, David Garcia, and another neighbor grabbed hoses and tried to put out the fire before emergency personnel arrived.

They soon heard a boom, she said — "a huge pop" — and called 911.

A resident of the house who didn't want to be interviewed stood with Googins and Garcia as they watched the firefighters work.

Through burned-out front windows, the interior appeared darkened by soot. The resident, who earlier had been coughing and briefly sat with paramedics on the back of an ambulance, drank from a large pitcher of water Googins had brought him.

He described to the neighbors looking out the back window and seeing a "wall of flames" outside before he fled the home.